Implication of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on the severity and outcome of covid-19 in rural India;Is COPD the hidden culprit amongst the havoc: A cross sectional study

ABSTRACT

COVID-19 (Coronavirus infectious disease 2019) denotes an ever changing and varied disease which has crippled the health care systems throughout the world. There have been studies conducted across the globe to establish the important factors for severity and mortality associated with COVID-19. We tried to study the effect of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on the severity as well as outcome of COVID-19. Material and methods: A total of 180 patients with COVID-19 were enrolled in this study and were then screened for history of COPD. There were 49 patients with history of COPD and 131 patients with no history of COPD. Inflammatory markers and HRCT scores were assessed for all the patients and they were followed up to study the outcome. Result: COPD was significantly associated HRCT Score, inflammatory markers and outcome. The mean HRCT Score for patients with COPD was more in COPD group (15.39 +/- 4.65) when compared with Non-COPD group (9.39 +/- 3.98). Mortality was also significantly higher in patients with COPD (67.3%) when compared to the patients without COPD (3.3%). Conclusion: We conclude that COPD is an important factor which has to be considered while treating the patients of COVID-19 especially in the rural India where lockdown restrictions and lack of knowledge have provided hinderance in achieving optimal follow up as there is increased severity and mortality associated with it.